Pocket Books (Paperback), ISBN 0-671-78591-5
Tense, edgy, possibly more suspense than romance, Voices Carry captivates, mesmerizes and terrifies, and does all three simultaneously while mixing in a heavy serving of love and caring. Exploring the dark side of human behavior and its lasting influence on its victims, the book operates on several levels, all of them interesting and frightening.

Remembered voices from the past carry into the present, influence actions and reaction. Voices in the present cry out to be heard and plead for rescue. FBI agent Jenna Snow must sort out these voices and deal with them in order to make her own future happen. Otherwise, she may become the star attraction on the serial killer's hit list.

Jenna's past haunts her -- not just the fact that as a young child she underwent a near rape, had to testify against the church camp leader and had her religious family dump her for bringing the molester to justice, but also her more immediate past. That recent past includes a lover who deserted her with no reason given. Jenna's old love, John Mancini, also a FBI agent, comes back into her life as her partner on the case -- a case involving missing women. Lots of missing woman.

This excellent tale delivers a cast of fully developed characters, a plot that twists and turns, pulling the past into the present, until the final resolution comes not as a surprise but as an inevitability. The two major characters come from Brown-eyed Girl (another of my favorite books), and Voices Carry gives them the opportunity to revive their troubled relationship -- if they can before the serial killer turns Jenna into another missing woman. I suggest you grab this book and begin reading, but begin early because it will keep you reading long past your bedtime.

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White's latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I've Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.

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